Judge Lehmann?
There’s a related
theme emerging from quite a few of his sermons in 2005 and that concerns the
topic of judging as practiced in the Body of Christ today. The Bible is clear
on this subject so the truth of this matter can be easily grasped and therefore
clearly taught.
Briefly, The Bible
tells us to judge, kritikos “discern; appraise”. Indeed we are commanded
to judge this way (1 Cor.2:15) with “righteous judgment” (John 7:24). We are
forbidden to krites “condemn; judge another’s heart or motives” They are
in the unseen realm and only God knows. We forbidden to wrongfully judge or be
a hupo-krite ” hypocrite; actor” or judge someone for doing something we
are ourselves doing or worse.
We can be sure that
much of the Pharisees judging was from unbelief and having a wrongful critical
spirit, they were challenging Jesus on what He said and did. This is rightly
denounced but what is not so clear is Lehmann’s understanding concerning the
biblical mandate to test all things and judge with righteous judgment. He
acknowledges that some judging is necessary unfortunately it is rarely
exercised especially in his own organization in reference to many of the
troubling doctrines, teachers, and endorsements we have brought to his
attention as a leader.
In his messages he
mentions almost in passing that we actually are to judge certain things but the
tone of his voice seems as though he’s irritated and making an appeasement or
concession for those who might be wondering. He mentions certain problematic
things in the Body of Christ but his overwhelming content concerns not judging
and we rarely get a specific or good explanation of what kind of judging we are
to do. He concedes:
(Said mockingly): “Now I know somebody’s thinking already, what about the false prophets and what about the- we’ll get to that don’t worry about it.” (Danny Lehmann “The Tree of Life” 9/18/05).
”Now there are times when we have to make certain judgments and I know there are false prophets and you have to judge false teachers. Jesus said watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing so you have to make a judgment on who’s a wolf and who’s a sheep.” (Danny Lehmann “Mars Hill” Sermon Sat. PM Sept. 24, 2005).
“Yes you’re called to judge some things and if you’re a boss you’re called to judge as an employer, there’s all kinds of valid righteous judgments that we all have to engage in but even with that when you have to rebuke somebody, when you have to fire somebody, when you have to correct somebody did you do it in love? Have you done it in love do you have their good in mind? Therefore are you eating from the tree of life?” (Danny Lehmann “Mars Hill” Sermon sat. PM Sept. 24, 2005).
Tree of life
references aside, He says some good statements concerning the need to be
cautious in this area:
“Judgment of God is according to truth and only God knows the heart and seldom do we know all the facts.” (Danny Lehmann “The Tree of Life” 9/18/05).
“We better be careful about judging…” (ibid.).
“Are there times when we should judge? Yes In that same passage where Jesus said ‘Don’t judge’ He said ‘Don’t cast your pearls before swine’ so we’re gonna have to make a judgment on who swine are, right? The same text he said ‘Beware of false prophets which will come to you as wolves in sheep’s clothing’. So you’re gonna have to look at the sheep and judge that they are wolves in sheep’s clothing and you have to make a judgment and deal with them appropriately. We’re to judge false prophets. We’re obviously to judge false doctrine. We obviously have to stand at the door and see that no wolves come in and rip off the sheep. These are all judgments that have to be made, obviously. But we must keep in mind the overarching theme of what tree are we eating from. Jesus corrected people. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. Jesus corrected His disciples. Jesus told the woman at the well don’t go and sin anymore, so we’re not talking about some sloppy watering down of the gospel. Were not talking about some well just love everybody, accept everybody and let all the false – No.” (Ibid.).
So what of the
false prophets and prophecies associated with or actually coming from YWAM?
What about the plethora of unbiblical teachings about spiritual warfare from
John Dawson, collaborations with proven false prophets like Benny Hinn, and the
training seminars from false apostles like C. Peter Wagner? How about Danny’s
own recent radio shows in which he promotes fallacious missiology and heretical
doctrines alongside the Indigenous Peoples spokesfolk like Daniel Kikawa? He
says we are to judge between truth and error and he’s right but what then does
HE actually consider truth and error, orthodoxy or heresy, sound and unsound
doctrine?
Lehmann who refuses to exercise any Biblical judgment seems to consistently promote teachers and teachings that most who are trained in discernment would not. He has promoted John Eldridges book, “Wild at Heart” “I believe God made women wild at heart too” (Word to the World, Feb. week of 6-10). Ralph Moores new book “Dare to Pray” has the forward written by Dutch Sheets, one of the many apostles under Peter Wagner new Apostolic Reformation. Danny Lehmann of Calvary Chapel has an endorsement in this book.
Much of the
above-cited examples are pretty sound in what he’s saying but a major problem
exists because intermingled with these concessions and statements are other
ones, which are either unexplained or distorted from the context of the
passages he cites:
“And so really when it comes down to how we can love one another and how we can keep from loving one another, we have to learn how not to judge...” (Danny Lehmann “Mars Hill” Sermon sat. PM Sept. 24, 2005).
“My challenge to us tonight is life comes from love Judgment and condemnation and bad vibes and misery come from judgment. Now let me give you a couple of other “one anothers” in the Bible. One- “one another “says “let us not judge one another anymore.” That’s Romans 14. James 4 “let us not judge one another “ He who judges his brother and speaks evil of his brother, judges the Law and speaks evil of the law, therefore, if you’re a judge of the law you’re no longer a doer of the law but a judge.” If that’s not enough, James says, “Who are you to judge another?” If that’s not enough in Romans 2 it says, “You have no excuse whosoever of you judge your brothers and sisters.” And if that’s not enough, Paul said, “who are you to judge one another?” and if that’s not enough, here’s our last verse: Jesus said this Judge not lest you be judged. For with the same judgment you judge others, you will be judged…its one of the most well known scriptures in the Bible and how many of you have been hurt wounded and stung by other peoples unrighteous judgment of you? Put your hand up. Now for the rest of us how many of you have ever judged somebody else, maybe in the last couple of days? You look at somebody and you judge them. “(Ibid.).
“Jesus spoke really strongly against having a Judgmental spirit…tell me if He has to say ‘Read my lips’ on this one. Jesus says ‘Do not judge’. Now can it be any clearer? OK ’Do not judge” Verse one of chapter seven of Matthew. Second verse for with the same judgment that you judge other people, you are going to be judged yourself. Number one you shouldn’t do it because God told you not to do it. Second thing you shouldn’t do it because its what I call later on the sermon, the boomerang effect, you’re gonna get whacked with that judgmental spirit to the same degree that you whack others...” (Danny Lehmann “On Fire” 10 /05).
Note: Jesus is
forbidding a certain kind of judging in these passages (as is Paul) but this
fact is not clarified or qualified. Matt 7:1-5, Rom. 2, Rom. 14 is in the
context of judging over disputable matters. Paul’s example is food and days
that passed away with the Mosaic Law.
In James 4 again, God is forbidding A CERTAIN KIND OF judging, on those
who are poor in the church. These contextual nuances clarify certain aspects of
judging that are left unsaid in Lehmann’s citations and sadly they are often
left unexplained but instead are spoken in the context of a blanket statement
saying we aren’t ever to judge. And this is what comes across loud and clear in
his teaching.
Here’s another
treatment of the Matt. 7 passage and Lehmann’s explanation of it. He begins by
saying:
“We can judge what somebody else does but you don’t know. You can’t see inside their heart and that’s why the Bible says judgment is according to truth and only God knows all truth, therefore we should not judge.” (Danny Lehmann “Mars Hill” Sermon sat. PM Sept. 24, 2005).
A statement like this one is misleading because on one hand, it is true but he used it in connection with a passage that teaches a specific type of judging as wrong, it is not a blanket injunction not to judge anything ever. It needs to be noted that when we become spiritually mature we can know enough truth about teachings and doctrines from scripture to exercise wise and righteous judgments (John 7:24; 1 John 2:18-27; Heb. 5:13). What we cannot judge the intents of a person’s heart nor their eternal destiny but we are told in Scripture that we can know the truth and judge accordingly-especially someone’s teaching. This point needs to be made because this is how Lehmann presents Matt. 7:1ff as a passage that condemns judging. He continues:
“So Jesus tells his disciples on the Sermon on the Mount “Don’t judge.” Lest you should be judged. For with the same measure you judged others…(he then reads about the plank and sawdust.)...Now here’s where we get to the negative part of the message but folks its really not negative…Jesus is saying that the plank is in your eye. Who wants to have a plank in their eye? He’s not so much condemning us for judging. He’s saying, you poor people you’re walking around with a plank in your eye. ..Now is there anything wrong with talking a speck of dust from your brother’s eye? If Tommy has a speck of dust in his eye, his eyes watering and so forth, I want to be able to help Tommy. If he’s got a fault and I judge. I can look at his eye and say is something wrong with your eye Tommy? I’m gonna go help [you but I cant see to take the speck out his eye because I’ve got a plank in my own eye. So the Lords saying do yourself a favor, don’t judge, take the plank out of your eye so you can see clearly to help your brother get the speck out of his eye. It’s a very positive message” (Ibid.).
In some sermons he uses Matt. 7:1ff as a blanket injunction from the Lord Himself not to judge and then explains it as a “positive message”, without really ever sharing the simple intended thought of the passage: Hypocritical judging is strictly forbidden but to be sure, righteous judgment is mandated here and elsewhere.
Lehmann seems to be
using some of these passages without sharing the context so that the end point
that is emphasized is “don’t judge at all”. This PROTECTS HIM from those who do
judge teaching- that look on at what he and others in YWAM are teaching and
promoting because of real concern. This
constant drone of “don’t judge” effectively stops many people from daring to
question and exercise the Biblical command fro their own protection. Combine
this with the evasive measures and name-calling employed by some leaders when
confronted, and there’s an effective blockade around false teachings allowing them
to continue. This reality prevents even YWAMers from critically appraising the
teachings they are getting, exercising discernment is a Biblical command to
identify and remove oneself from false teachings.
One example I will
share is about a dear Indian brother I know who, thankfully left his Indian
YWAM base because he just couldn’t justify wasting his time to read or accept
some of the downright ridiculous and false assertions found in books he was
required to read. Upon alerting his leader with his concerns and citing a few
examples he was promptly told that he must read and write reports on it anyway
and when he then decided to leave the compound was told that that wasn’t God’s
will for his life. My fiend used the discernment God gave him and made the
right choice despite the attempted manipulations of some of the leaders. Thank
God for the mandate to test all things and hold fast only to what is good. Many
of these teachings are not good.
But what if you
find yourself guilty of wrongful judgment? Well, repent. The Bible says that
but make sure that you don’t take a YWAMers or anyone’s word as authoritative
unless it aligns with God’s Word. Lehmann continues;
“Father we pray
you would speak to us right now about specific people we’ve been judging we've
been condemning, we’ve been accusing, and we confess Lord we are not God we
don’t have all the facts. We don’t know peoples hearts and not only that it’s
not ours to judge” (Danny
Lehmann “Mars Hill” Sermon sat. PM Sept. 24, 2005).
“You usually only
judge people that you think you’re superior to anyway. Right? I’m not gonna
judge Tiger Woods for being a bad golfer because I know he’s a better golfer
than me. I don’t think I’m superior to him. But there’s plenty of you that I think I’m superior to that I could spend
all day long judging. You know what? That is what a lot of churches are all
about, and that’s why the non-Christians don’t want to come, because they read
somewhere where Jesus said I didn’t come to judge the world. I came to save the
world. They read somewhere that God is a God of love. They knew somewhere in
the Bible there it talks about Gods unconditional love…” (Danny Lehmann
MARS HILL Sat. PM Oct. 21, 2005).
Certainly, this
problem does exist in churches but we also must keep in mind that this is not
the sole or primary reason why unbelievers don’t frequent our churches. To listen to ones advice over the Scripture
that tells us to discern does in fact make THAT person superior to the
Scripture. These real reason unbelievers do not come is what Jesus said:
“And this is the
condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be
exposed.” (John 3:19-20).
Non-believers will
always make excuses for not wanting to be at church or around Christians and,
yes, Christians are hypocritical and wrongfully judgmental at times. I will
concede that point but that no reason to put any prohibition on righteous
judgment and making clear declarations about what God said in His Word, even if
it makes our churches uncomfortable for the unsaved. Again, I am not accusing
Lehmann of advocating this or being totally ignorant of it but it is a tendency
in the Body of Christ to avoid falsehoods as being judged (see doctrines diminished or falsehoods unconfronted) because it is
wrongfully labeled as “unloving”.
God is a God of
love but he will also judge the world. Sin was judged at Calvary’s cross. While
Christ did not come to condemn the world in a wrongful way, He will most
certainly judged it: “For judgment I have come into this world, that those
who do no see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” (Jn.
9:39). See also John 7:7; 5:22-30; Jude 14-16). Christ will most certainly
judge the world and the unbelievers and these truths need to be clarified to
them and proclaimed in the church regardless of who may be offended or not.
I know Danny
Lehmann believes this is an essential part of the gospel but at the same time
there is a pervasive diminishing of
some of scriptures harsher truths in for a position of “love”. We need to
realize and teach that sinners hate the light and may very well be offended in
the presence of true `Bible teaching/believing Christians and we cannot cover
over God as judge because that’s the forum in which the Bible speaks of
salvation: we are on trial for our sins and Jesus Christ steps in to redeem us.
Some of this mentality we see today and the seeker sensitive version of the
“gospel” which leaves out what many label offensive are the fruits of the late
heretical teacher John Wimber who taught that the gospel should be taken out of
the courtroom and placed in the family room so as to be more accessible to the
seeker. Again, contradicting the structure we see in Scripture.
My concerns with
Danny Lehmann’s teachings on judgment are summed up in his closing prayer as
recorded on his On Fire show:
“We know Lord there are times when we have to make
judgments. There are times when we have to make judgment calls. There are times
when we have to confront people. There are times when we have to rebuke people.
There are times when we have to be negative. But I pray Lord that whatever we
do, even if we have to rebuke somebody sharply. Even if we have to correct a
false prophet or if we have to warn somebody about a false teacher, we would do
it in love and we would do our best to correct that false teacher and do what
we can to bring him into the fold and help him to see the error of his way.
Help us to be like Jesus …” (Danny Lehmann “On Fire” 10 /05).
It needs to be
noted that he has NOT responded favorably when I and others have approached him
concerning some false teachings being promoted in YWAM or some of the heretical
teachers that are involved in training YWAM leaders…he has been approached with
loving concern and has scorned attempts to dialog or hear out some valid
concerns in these areas. He has denied that certain men are false teachers in the
body of Christ as well and has gone to bat for dangerous teachers and their
teachings as well. He is actually currently promoting First Nations/Indigenous
Peoples Movement teachings in the church. When these are brought to his
attention by others who are following what scripture says about testing these
doctrines and teachers, he ignores the issues and does not want to hear it. So
what do you do with a person who from the pulpit tells people to judge what is
false and refuses to practice this in his life because he is so close to error?
He continues:
“There is a time for judgment. Jesus said to judge righteous judgment. Jesus said one time don’t cast your pearls before swine so you have to make a judgment on who is a swine that you wont cast your pearls before. You have to use wisdom so you have to make judgments…What were talking about tonight is a harsh judgmental critical spirit that, I’m not gonna say it necessarily a demon but I am saying it’s a spiritual thing. I think that happens in some of us that we just can’t stop judging people all the time…”(Ibid.).
I agree that this kind of judgment is problematic and
sinful, but he then relates a story about a vision he allegedly received from
the Lord. The revelation he got from it was a picture of him on a cannery or
assembly line where his worrying about the performance of others along the line
hindered his own productivity. On an earlier occasion, he told me personally
that the lesson he learned was to “stop judging” (he was in fact judging
wrongly) and as soon as he did that, a number of people got saved. I received from him that I needed to be
careful in my judgments concerning some in the body of Christ. God certainly could have spoke to him about
his own personal judgmentalism. However, this has nothing to do with Biblical
judgment that is required to be exercised in the body of Christ and the valid
concerns several of us have brought to him about the (his) teachings in YWAM
and elsewhere. Instead, he turns it
around on to those that bring attention to these errors exposing these men-
which is exactly what Lehmann has taught should be done.
Another
interesting aspect to all this is that his pastor, Bill Stonebreaker has judged
many of the same false teachers from the pulpit in the past, including Benny
Hinn and yet Lehmann said nothing on this. Tragically, Stonebreaker now
promotes Danny in an unprecedented way and refuses to deal with these and other
teachings that have been brought to his attention. He has given endorsement to
Lehmann’s ministry ignoring the concerns regarding some of these dangerous
doctrines or the clear error emerging regularly from YWAM.
Practice What
You Preach?
Surely a man
on a “crusade” against Pharisaism and critical spirits would ensure that he
wasn’t also a participant of those same sins. The truth is that Danny Lehmann
has called us “judgers” and “snipers”, even “spiritual terrorists” in private
meetings so, given that he has used the exact same terminology to refer to us
in our earlier meetings, we have every reason he’s is referring to those who
promote discernment when he says the following statements:
Danny Lehmann will say, “we are told in Jude to earnestly contend for the faith that was once
for all delivered to the saints … Phil.1 that Paul, was set or the defense of
the faith. When the faith is being
attacked we need to defend it. When people are talking stink about the lord
Jesus Christ we need to talk in honor about the Lord Jesus Christ”…
I agree and he should allow people to
identify the attacks and speak about it. But it is on his terms, what he thinks
is valid. He does not hesitate to attack the very people who defend the church
from false teachers by further saying “Unfortunately
apologetics today has kind of dribbled down into a kind of quasi apologetics in
which we seek to nit pick other people within the body of Christ rather then
seeking to give answers to people outside the body of Christ which is what they
used apologetics for in the Bible”( Danny Lehmann, Nov. 25, 2002)
His own personal opinion of what is right and wrong is put above the Scripture. For example, the books of Jude and 2 Peter both warn about false teachers IN the church and to identify them, yet he calls this nitpicking. Instead his solution is to not judge and keep silent! Furthermore he states:
“There are people who built their whole ministries trying
to divide Christians from one another, attacking people on websites, attacking
people over the air and we need to call a stop to it...”(Word to the World Broadcast, Oct. 2004).
If one disagrees with his viewpoint and points out false
teaching that can harm another believer they are labeled an attacker - he
judges them. While they are put down for judging by the word, he can judge them
for even identifying or mentioning what’s wrong. This is what he thinks of
certain well known ministries. (A friend of mine told me that Danny had become
very displeased and said Dave Hunt Roger Oakland who is in Calvary chapel and
others were all alike- attackers of the body of Christ). He does not make any
distinction of those who are helping other people being hurt from false
teachings in the church and those who judge because they are being critical on
everything they hear.
“These are 5
things that Charles Finney said of when you know you need a revival. Now let me
know if I’m making this up or if maybe this could be something we could apply
today. These are five things: Number one, if you see a lack of brotherly love
in the church. You see Christians sniping at one another all the time
and you see denominations competing with one another all the time. Number two,
there are jealousies slanders and judgments…of Christians sniping at one
another again…” (Danny
Lehmann MARS HILL Oct. 25,2005).
“We were talking
in the back room about some of these guys on these internets that just go crazy calling people names and so forth
and so on and building up these straw men and knocking them down. It’s just
crazy. When those kinds of things happen you know you need revival in the
church…It might be a good idea for you folks wherever you are the next time
someone says “well I heard that so and so is Nyeeeaaggh. Hey time to pray for
revival. Fall on your knees and pray for revival and maybe those people will go
into some cave by themselves and spread their gossip in there…” (Danny Lehmann MARS HILL Oct. 25,2005).
No one I know that
is in this type of ministry is just calling people names and not concentrating
on the doctrine they teach. They have better things to do than make things up.
Maybe it is time to pray for revival because of the false teaching that has
flooded our pulpits, and not blame the people with the courage to stand against
it. It’s clear from the above quotes the Lehmann clearly believes men who have
confront error publicly (as in YWAM) are guilty of hindering revival and
sniping attackers. Of course, he can render these judgments towards us and at
the same time be exempt from having to explain himself or answer for why he
engages in the very same practice. And
he does this even more vehemently, than even his critics or people concerned
with the false doctrine being promoted in his organization and from his
programs.
It seems as though
he can declare what wrongful and right judging is but if his teachings or
YWAM’s get indicted, then somehow this gets redefined. It’s okay for him to
wrongfully label Christians as “spiritual terrorists” or classify their
ministries as “demonic” but somehow where YWAM’s clear cases of unbiblical
teachings are concerned the standards cannot be applied. Lehmann needs to
realize that he is every bit as critical, perhaps more so, than some of his
targets. For he presents no Biblical proof in his judging of others who are
trying to obey the commands to test and judge.
The mandate to judge rightly still remains,
this is part and parcel of maturing and those who teach how to discern he so
vehemently despises. So some of what he says about this matter are correct
though it goes largely unqualified to his audience, he has clearly revealed to
others and myself that we are most definitely engaging in the sins of
Pharisaism and critical spirited but sadly, he is unclear and unconcerned about
his charges towards us. For example, he has yet to truly explain why he judged
us as being snipers, spiritual terrorists, and in one case “demonic” for
speaking out on the error and falsehood being propagated in YWAM and others,
through various unbiblical teachings and beliefs.
But we aren’t the
only targets of late. Lehmann reserves some of his mockery and generalization
for theologians:
“Lets get
excited about the subject of theology. Now let me ask you a question and I want
you to be ruthlessly honest: When anybody says the word theology, how many of
you have a AAAh snooze snooze kind of an attitude that comes over your little
heart? I know I do. Somebody told me once Danny a theologian could even
take the fun out of kissing. Theologians are the deadest driest people.
They talk in words nobody can understand. They talk about abstract principles,
they wonder about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and could God
make a rock so big He couldn’t pick it up? We used to go through all of this
stuff but theology this is what I want to passionately lay out to you, theology
is simply the study of God…”
(Danny Lehmann “On Fire” 11/26/05).
It’s sad to hear
him stereotype theologians, this is just one example of many of the above
mentioned. The way he ridicules, mocks and puts down others, given that he is
so vehement against those who wrongly judge. Although some of this is said in
jest it is often found in his illustrations. I will not make too big a point of
it but only suggest that perhaps he should listen back to some of the
statements of ridicule he freely dishes out. We need to be extremely cautious
in labeling others this way when we ourselves condemn it.
This leads us to
ask:
Since we can agree
that Pharisaical, judgmental criticism in a sinful way is forbidden by the
scriptures; Since Lehmann equates testing and judging peoples teachings as
examples of this kind of wrongful judging; since he is on a crusade against all
of these things; since he refuses to clarify and meet with us concerning
whether or not we are the ones in mind here (if even partially)…Then we
have no recourse other than to believe that he views us in this light – as the
enemies and attackers of both him and the Body of Christ. He has told numerous
people that I was personally attacking him and this was simply not the case.
His assessment of our ministries is not
accurate and are we are not guilty of the crimes he rails against in these
sermons? Several of us are still waiting to hear from Danny Lehmann concerning
these matters.
Check out these
articles on the biblical command to judge or the prohibitions in this area:
http://www.av1611.org/crock/judbynum.html
http://www.watchman.org/reltop/judgemen.html
http://www.pfo.org/notjudge.htm
Given what he
believes about Christ and the evils of judging others, we can expect the true
Crusader to raise high his shield and thunder against all things Pharisaic and
critical. I might add that I largely agree with anyone who has problems with
the sins of Pharisaism and wrongful judging. To be sure the scriptures have
grave woes pronounced on those who opposed our Lord and His teachings and any
who would spitefully and wrongfully judge others with pride or hypocrisy. We
can all be guilty of that and of assuming wrong things about folks at times. I
find myself repenting frequently to the Lord and severally to other people for
being out of line or wrong in the assessments I make and things I pronounce. I
will be quick to admit that, I have even asked Danny Lehmann himself
forgiveness for the way I said things or even came across to him. But there
still are the issues that need to be addressed and ignoring them only allows
them to continue to burn.
This should not be
the problem for us. There is also a reactive stance that we adapt at times
which causes us to be even greater sinners in the area of judgment. Something
happens inside when we refuse correction or harden our necks against reproof. Exhort people not to do what we are doing
ourselves. This phenomenon is the basis for these next concerns. Danny Lehmann
teaches:
“Now I’m not on some kind of bandwagon for anybody here today, I am on kind of a Crusade, I hate to use that word because the Crusades are part of a religious spirit as well, but I’m on some kind of a Crusade against that Pharisaical spirit. You know why? Because Jesus was on a crusade against a Pharisaical spirit. And you know why else? Because I have seen that religious, Pharisaical spirit destroy Christian’s lives. Because once you allow yourself to be the sole judge and arbiter of all truth and you can set up and start criticizing and firing at anybody else, you’re not only going to make yourself miserable you’re gonna make other people miserable around you and, as Jesus said, if you judge others, you will be judged with the same judgment that you have judged others.”(“On Fire” KLHT 1040 AM Oct. 21,2005).
“…sometime we just need to make a radical break in our lives from that judgmental pharisaical spirit. “(“Mars Hill” Sept. 24, 2005).
“We have a
tendency to get ourselves into the judge’s seat, to put on our wig, pick up our
gavel and BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Pharisee can judge anybody…”
“How can you look inside another human being’s heart and know whether they went to Heaven or Hell? Pharisees can do that. You know why? Because they’re Pharisees, and the Pharisees can judge anybody that they want to and they can get out their wig and their gavel and do this.” ( “On Fire” KLHT 1040 AM Oct. 21,2005).
Much of what
Lehmann taught on this subject was true- it is indeed condemned by God if one
is judging in this manner. We have to remember that the Pharisees were for the
most part non- believers. To call another Christian a Pharisee is to put them
in a category of this or worse. To call those who are using their biblical
right to test a Pharisee simply because you do not want anyone to judge becomes
a different matter. This becomes his own personal opinion. In fact to call one a Pharisee has you being
judgmental in a far worse way. Keep in mind though, from the last section, if
what Lehmann alleges is accurate Christ could have been guilty of the sin of
Pharisaism i.e. Christ could have judged us wrongfully and submitted Himself to
the fear and legalism of the very ones He was supposedly “crusading” against!
Seen in that light, almost none of Lehmann’s teachings are safe because of the
implications they are laden with. Nevertheless, on to the crux of the concern:
Lehmann may be
correct in denouncing the sins of the Pharisees, yet he refers to them in
derision and a mocking tone even ridiculing the intonations of their voices in
his examples. This of course definitely sets him apart from any “crusade”
Christ would have been on and his dealings with the actual Jewish leaders that
were blinded, lost and in need of His saving power. I cannot see Christ mocking
them with rude mannerisms but I think the real problem here is who Lehmann
considers modern-day Pharisees!
A few other men and
myself have had one or two or more sit-down meetings with Mr. Lehmann in person
and have basically been compared to and spoken of in identical terms with these
Pharisees and folks with “critical spirits”. There’s no doubt in the minds of
any of us who have tried to dialogue with him about these and other concerns
that he has expressed identical displays of real vitriol and derision towards
us. Accusing us of attacking the Body of Christ, being “spiritual terrorists”,
“Snipers”, and in one case, he labeled one well-known, prominent ministry which
serves with Calvary Chapels all over the world as “demonic” all because of the
exposes and warnings given to the church about false teachers that Danny
considers in some cases to be his own personal friends. The fact many of the
churches that uphold the bible, even those of his own denomination would have
no problem taking this same position with us and many have.
He told me
specifically, in reference to my testing and exposing some of YWAM’s practices
and teachings that he was intimidated to the point of actually “having to watch
every word” he says for fear of being “sniped” or shot at. In essence, he would
be hindered in his goings forth in ministry because he knew folks like myself
were listening carefully. He views it as lying in wait to wrongfully judge him.
Certainly he would have no fear if he stayed with the Scripture. He then spoke
about it this way last year:
“…Some people in the Christian church are frozen in inactivity because of the eyes of the judges of the Pharisees spirit who are gonna judge ‘em and nitpick and so forth… “(“On Fire” KLHT 1040 AM. Oct. 21,2005).
To be sure, he has relegated the activities of many who discern by the word of God, who would call attention to the doctrinal and practical misbehaviors of YWAM or himself as pharisaical, judgmental, nitpicker sniper attackers who need to be stopped and, at least in one case, whose ministry is actually demonic. This statement bears repeating “There are people who built their whole ministries trying to divide Christians from one another, attacking people on websites, attacking people over the air and we need to call a stop to it...”(Word to the World Broadcast, Oct. 2004).
Lehmanns statement of attacking is only his opinion from his own viewpoint, we call it our right to biblically discern and warn, as many of the pastors do to protect their own sheep. After all, it is a command in the Bible.
In hearing his series of messages on Pharisaism, I heard so many parallels between what he had labeled our exercise in discernment and what he taught about Pharisaism, I had to write him and ask the very pertinent question: “Are we the Pharisees of which you speak?” If you would like to read the letter please ask and I will forward it –
Recently on your programs you expressed that you are now
on a crusade of sorts against Pharasaism and those who judge in the Body of
Christ and you have repeatedly used terms like "sniping" and made
reference to people "on the web" in conjunction with your mention of
Pharisees.
I agree with much of your assessment on this issue but I
can't help wondering if you had specific others and myself in mind, given that,
in meetings with you, you have used the same terminology describing our
ministries in the Church. I did mention certain people and ministries…
There was not response to this at all. These tings continue to go unanswered. His silence on this matter speaks volumes and confirms what I already know to be true about his feeling towards us and our ministries. What is one to do if the person they are trying to get answers from refuse to answer to anyone that may challenge him?
For additional talking points, see this article: Are We Pharisees?